Originally a traveling-band saxophonist, MacMurray began work in the silent films of the late 1920s. His long list of film credits, ranging from light comic roles to serious drama, include The Gilded Lily (1935), Double Indemnity (1944), and The Caine Mutiny (1954). He became familiar to a new generation of viewers in Disney classics (The Shaggy Dog, 1959; The Absent-Minded Professor, 1960) and the popular TV series My Three Sons (1960–72).